Renowned US immigration attorneys issued an “urgent travel warning” for non-immigrant holders who may be planning to travel outside America. Given that it’s that time of the year when people may otherwise be thinking of flying overseas to connect with their families, Emily Neumann and Rahul Reddy strictly advised against even embracing that thought process, especially among foreign nationals currently in the United States.

“Urgent Travel Warning: Non-Immigrant Visa Holders, Do Not Travel Outside the USA,” Emily Neumann, dubbed the ‘Immigration Girl’ on X, wrote on the social media platform. According to her official profile on a leading Texas-based immigration law firm’s website, Emily is a Managing Partner at Reddy Neumann Brown PC with over 15 years of experience practicing US immigration law providing services to US businesses and multinational corporations.

Here’s what she said.

US immigration attorneys’ warning to nonimmigrant visa holders on the travel front

As part of the firm delivering weekly immigration news and updates every Tuesday, Neumann began the livestream with a major advice: “Please don’t travel outside the US right now.” Stressing on the issue four times in a row right at the beginning of the video, Emily turned to how things were basically changing overnight, with the Donald Trump administration issuing a seemingly endless trail of proclamations and policy changes in the past few weeks itself.

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“We’ve seen it recently with visa cancellations, appointments… that’s going to be a big problem for people to get back to the US,” she emphasised. “Now is not the time to travel outside the US.”

Emily and Reddy Neumann Brown PC’s founding partner Rahul Reddy further highlighted that the Trump administration has a lot more authority at the border, which is an entry point into the country for foreign nationals. “Initially, they did cancel third country national stamping,” he said in the video. “It means that you can only go to your home country, you cannot go to the other countries.”

They also directed people’s attention to the recently imposed $100,000 fee on H-1B applications, which again impacted new-coming petitioners from outside the US, and not those already in America.

“All these trends are only if you travel outside,” Reddy asserted.

H-1B social media vetting and stricter policies

With the Trump administration’s new mandate surrounding extensive social media presence reviews going into effect on December 15, countless visa appointments were cancelled by the US Embassy amid delayed stamping. Consequently, thousands of Indian H-1B visa holders and their H-4 dependents have been stranded in India.

In light of the developing scenario inducing anxiety and fears among visa holders, Reddy noted, “If you have a job and they postpone all the way to May… and the H-1B job doesn’t continue, you will have to withdraw the H-1B application. They’re making the social media as just an excuse to cut you off.”

In similar remarks shared online earlier, Reddy had warned, “Do not travel internationally for visa stamping unless you already have a valid visa in your passport.

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“Employers cannot keep an H-1B role vacant for half a year. Many cannot legally allow remote work from outside the United States due to export-control, payroll, and tax restrictions. This reality means one thing: if an H-1B worker travels now, they may return not to their job but to unemployment.”

H-1B visa holder are required to go back to their home country for visa stamping to get a physical visa sticker signalling their valid H-1B status in the passport, which, in turn, allows them to enter and work in the US. Once your visa petition filed by the sponsoring employer is approved, professional may move ahead with the H-1B stamping process.

The process particularly became more difficult after the Trump administration ended the H-1B visa interview waiver (“Dropbox”) for renewals. As a result, nearly all renewals demanded in-person consular interviews, ending the practice of applying in third countries to avail shorter wait time.